A simple method for generating loss-of-function plant mutants is described by Chuang and Meyerowitz in the April 25 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2000, 97:4985-4990 [Read the abstract on PubMed]). Chuang and Meyerowitz use Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana to achieve RNA interference. Their sense/antisense construct produces a hairpin double-stranded RNA. This reproduces the loss of gene function that has been seen in other organismsafter injection of double-stranded RNA. There is, however, some variability in the strength of the response depending on the identity of the target gene.